The Sean McDowell Show - Iranian Muslims are Turning to Jesus–What's Happening?

Episode Date: October 10, 2025

What would it look like for revival to break out in the most restrictive places in the world? In this episode, I talk with Dr. Hormoz Shariat, a PhD in computer engineering, author of Iran’s Great Awakening, and the “Billy Graham of Iran.” Dr. Hormoz shares how he was born into Islam, lived through the Iranian Revolution, and still wrestled with questions of truth, injustice, and spiritual hunger until Christ radically changed his life. He talks about the incredible outreach to Muslims in Iran (and beyond) and why he believes Iran will someday become a "Christian nation." READ: Iran's Great Awakening (https://amzn.to/3WoRflF) *Get a MASTERS IN APOLOGETICS or SCIENCE AND RELIGION at BIOLA (https://bit.ly/3LdNqKf) *USE Discount Code [SMDCERTDISC] for 25% off the BIOLA APOLOGETICS CERTIFICATE program (https://bit.ly/3AzfPFM) *See our fully online UNDERGRAD DEGREE in Bible, Theology, and Apologetics: (https://bit.ly/448STKK) FOLLOW ME ON SOCIAL MEDIA: Twitter: https://x.com/Sean_McDowell TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@sean_mcdowell?lang=en Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/seanmcdowell/ Website: https://seanmcdowell.org Discover more Christian podcasts at lifeaudio.com and inquire about advertising opportunities at lifeaudio.com/contact-us.

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Life Audio. Why would a young man born to a Muslim family in Iran who lived through the Iranian revolution become a follower of Jesus? Why wasn't he angry at God when his brother was murdered at 16 on a minor political charge? Why does he believe that revival is coming to Iran? These are the questions we're going to explore with our guest today, Dr. Hormoz-Sheriat, who has a PhD in computer engineering from USC, interestingly enough, is the author of Iran's Great Awakening and has been considered by some the Billy Graham of Iran.

Dr. Sherriott, thanks for coming on. Well, thank you so much, Sean, for inviting me to share what the Lord is doing in Iran and my life. He has done great work in me and by his grace through me. Well, I can't wait for my audience to hear this. So let's just start with your family. What was it like growing up in Iran and how deeply Muslim were your roots? Yeah, I was born in a Yvonne in a Muslim family. My parents were educators.

So they even though they were Muslim, they were not fanatics. They always taught me how to, you know, think through things and don't accept things. Do research, understand things before you receive or accept or reject anything. That was my mom. She was a schoolteacher. and my father was a high school principal. So I knew a lot about Islam. I was pretty devout in my early years.

But then when I became a teenager, I said, hey, this doesn't make sense. Memorizing a prayer and repeating it five times, same again and again, and for every time, you have to repeat it several times. So it's like 20 times a day, you are repeating the same prayer. It doesn't make sense.

I just be a good person. And these rituals don't add anything. Where is God? I don't experience him. So I focused on my studies. My dream was to come to the United States, get a PhD in science, and become a research scientist. So I walk hard, and I was a good student. And by the way, at the young age, I was a young student in 79 when the revolution started. I was on the streets of Tehran.

I was shouting, death to America, death to Shah. you know but in my heart i was saying please not yet i want to go to the united states and get phd that's so interesting so you're committed but only so far had other dreams how many christians or jews did you know growing up and what was your experience like with them you know because i was not racist i was not that kind of moslem to hate non-muslims And I got it from my parents, very open-minded. And so now I realize when I was school, especially high school and university, why Christians and the Jews were attracted to me to be my friend?

After all these years, I'm thinking, why did I, why did they come to me, you know, become friends with me? Oh, yeah, because they realized I'm not their enemy. I was never an enemy my my mom specially taught me respect all people they're all valuable don't treat them differently don't hate anybody so that's why yeah so answering your questions I had Jewish and Christian friends at school how how common do you think your experience was and is in Iran in the sense of somebody raised to be a Muslim not fanatical their parents teaching him to think and care for people of other faiths. Were you an outlier or is it more common than many

people realize or think? Well, Iran has changed. In my time, it was rare to be like that. Right now, it's common. Actually, it's more than common. The Iranian Muslims, right now, they have such a positive view of Christianity. If you find you're Christian, they will gather around you. They want to be a friend. It takes things have changed. And another that I can expand on it later is that what God has done in Iran to change the people of Iran, I don't mean just Christians, but Muslims also, they've changed their mind towards Israel. They always loved the US, always loved US.

But the last five years is just a major change. Iranian people love the Jews, love Israel. It's the government of Iran. That's the enemy to US and to Israel. Wipe Israel off the map, death to USA. These are all the government. The people with majority, which is over 80% of Iranians, are against the government.

So the majority of Iranians, they love America, they love Israel. So my experience at that time was unique, but not today. So what happened? I think you said in your book, you were about, 12 years old when you started having questions and kind of rejected the Islamic faith, did that come as a price to you? Or did you just kind of practice it outwardly, even though you didn't really believe it? Well, I was always logical, again, because of my parents, educators. So it was my logic. I say, okay, I just be a good person. These things, there's

rituals, logically doesn't add anything. It doesn't make sense. Repeating. God, same prayer. So it was more of a logical decision and I was saying, well, what God wants me to do, even as a Muslim, to be a good person. And I can be a good person without

repeating these prayers or doing rituals. I will be a good person. By the way, if you compare, I did, but I wasn't that judgmental. But I said, look at these Muslims who are very serious. I'm better than them. I mean, I'm kind. I don't lie. I live a better, higher standard of living with this devout Muslim. So I just accept, believe there is God, but be a good person.

That's so interesting. We're going to get into this. But it's kind of human nature to just have this sense we need to be good. But then we compare ourselves to other people. But everything changes when we compare ourselves to Jesus. Then we look very differently. Now, we're going to get into that with your story, but a piece of your story is meeting your wife. Who was she and how did she influence and shape you in your faith journey? Yeah, well, I met my wife in Iran. She's American. She was a brave young, kind of hippie kind of girl,

brave enough to come to Iran in the late 70s. And we met and we got married. She became a Muslim. She was a nominal Christian going to church in America, but not born again, no personal relationship with Jesus. She was very open spiritually. When she came to Iran, this is a good point. She saw all these Muslims so serious about their faith.

They're ready to live and die for their faith. So she thought, oh, maybe they're true. Because in my church in America, people were lukewarm. They weren't even living. for Jesus but these people are living for Islam and they're ready to die for Islam so she was attracted to Islam she she got she became a Muslim and we got married we both were Muslims huh and here is an American young lady on streets of Tehran with a Islamic covering and she was shouting this to America with me of course

both of us both of us have repented since then and we sing seeing God bless America today and we mean that. Wow, that's really powerful. So one of things immediately when I was reading your book is that you described you were at the 1979 Islamic Revolution in Iran. I was three years old, so I have no memory of that. I remember my parents talking about it. I've seen video and discussion about it.

What was that like? And was that a piece of your motivation to say, all right, now is the time I'm going to America to get my education? Now, I was planning, as I shared, early teens, I was planning to come to the United States. And I had that mission to universities a year before the revolution started. So it was my plan to come to the United States. And being involved in Iran's 79 revolution, that was so common. Every student, every person, especially on campuses, everybody was involved.

And I was just a part of it. I wasn't a leader in that movement, but I participated. Okay, fair enough. What an interesting memory. So you leave, was it 1979 then that you came to America? Is that right? That very year you came? Exactly, yes.

Okay, describe your life then. It sounds like you're going to get a PhD. You want to be a scientist. Like, what were your hopes and dreams and how you saw your future at that point? The future looked very bright. Here, I'm reaching out to my dreams. I'm in a good university, getting a PhD, and I'm going to be in America where I love. I love the culture. This is the land of freedom. If I had an hour, I would say why I love America. Yeah, I love it. I really love America. You know, sometimes people who come from other countries like me, we appreciate what the Lord has given this land, this nation. more than many who are born here.

So I really, and not just me, many of us coming from other countries, we admire and we see the blessings in this land. So I was reaching my goals. I was here. I looked. I said, well, I'm getting a PhD from good university. Probably I will get a good job. And I will make some money and I will get a car.

I will get a house, probably get a larger house. and then I will get a newer car. And then what? Oh, and then I die. So what is that? You know, that's meaningless. All these life goals, okay, you work hard and you have, and you reach your goals in life.

If you think before, so what? Okay. You work all your life for reach your goal. Then you go. So is this the meaning of life? So that's what started me on a spiritual journey. saying, I'm reaching my goals, but it's empty. I mean, it's so interesting from outside the U.S.

You have a perception of America, living the American dream at that time in the 70s, the movies, and the music. And it was even more loved, I would imagine, in many ways, at least around the world than today. You're getting a PhD in computer engineering from USC. And yet inside, you're like, what's the point when it's all said and done? I think that's so interesting. But you started, it sounds like, by reconsider. your Muslim faith. Why did you start there and what happened as you began to look into it? Yes, I realized there is an emptiness in life. So then I thought, you have ignored God the last

five, ten years. And maybe there is God and maybe you should dedicate your life. So logically at that point was Islam is the last religion. It's the most complete religion. If I want to start, I would start with the most complete, the black. one, the best one. So I, but I said if I'm going to dedicate my life to serving Islam, I need to know more. I need to exactly know what their book says. Even though I was familiar with Quran, but this time I studied it as a researcher. They tried to be very objective. Read Quran, I knew a lot about it, but it didn't satisfy my soul. Where is God? How does he relate to my life? So I felt empty at the end.

My decision was either there's no God or if there is God is distant, God just gives us some commands and you follow that. But then out of my own pride, this is the pride. I said, if people ask me, what do you think about God? I would this would be, I would say, if there's no God or if there is, just doesn't relate to my daily life. And they would say, how did you come to that conclusion? I would say, I read Koran. And they would say, and boy, research one book, and you come to such a big conclusion. So out of my pride, I said, I'm going to read the Bible.

I don't think I'm going to find anything new. But at least I can tell people, hey, I've read Old Testament. I've read New Testament. I've read Quran. And this is my conclusion. Have you done that? I mean, I'm a true researcher for my own conscience. my thought was this, Sean, all religions are the same. If I read these books, I can prove,

I can show all of them are the same, basically. Why do they fight? So I can read the whole Bible in three days, I thought, because I wasn't taking any class. So I was spending like 16 hours. God, are you there or not? So I got a Bible, I read Genesis. it, stories were similar to Koran. And I said, let me see what Jesus says. I went to the New Testament and I wanted to read the whole Bible in three days. Three months later, I'm struggling with every verse in Matthew 5, Matthew 6. Who is this Jesus?

His character, his word, his teaching. So after a few months of struggle and the more I studied, I was forcing Bible and the of Bible and the God of Koran be the same. They are not. I tried my best. Jehovah is not Allah. I could not bring them together. So after a few months, I went to a church in downtown Los Angeles. I heard a simple message of the gospel so simply even a child can understand. And that simple message transformed by life. I love it. So you're studying, you're reading Genesis. And I agree. You'd understand it's better than I do. but in so much of Islam, these stories and prophets are brought in. And the gospels hinted at, of course, in Genesis in different ways.

But then you skip Leviticus, you skip the prophets, you skip judges, went to Jesus. What was it about Jesus as a Muslim that just kind of got your attention and made you think differently? Was it the sermon on the Mount when you said Matthew 5, 6, and 7? Like what was it specifically? Well, I want to keep God's word with you wherever you go? The King James Bible Study KJV app by Salem Media makes it easier to read, study, share, and pray daily with a timeless KJV translation. Enjoy features like offline access, audio Bible listening, smart search, and tools to highlight bookmark and take notes, all designed to keep your Bible studies simple and organize. Best of all, it's free to download in the Google Play Store.

Grow in your faith every day. Search for King James Bible Study, KJV, and download the app today. I thought Old Testament is for the Jews, New Testament for Christians. So I read one book of the Jewish Bible, Old Testament. I want to read one book of New Testament, the Christian Bible. So that's why I went to Matthew but struggled. I expected Jesus to be a prophet just like Muhammad, but he was not. I expected to, Koran to be more complete.

So Bible would be a subset of it, that what? whatever I read in the Bible would be better version of it would be in Quran. It was not. Jesus talking on Sermon on the Mount totally contradictory to Allah in Quran. Loving, kindness, forgiveness, truthfulness. These are all anti- these are the values not in Quran. See, when I say that maybe your audience think I am Islamophobic or hate Muslims, no, no, no, no. I was a Muslim and I have given my life to serving Muslims because I love them.

And I can share how I came to love Muslims even more after they murdered my brother. But if you love somebody, Sean, you have to tell them the truth, okay? Truth and love come together. So when I say about Islam that Allah is, he says, I'm the best of deceivers, lying, deceiving for the cause. of Islam is not a sin. It's mandated in Koran. Killing violence for Islam is ordered, is commanded in Koran. So when I compared these two, I said, well, cannot be true. Sermin on the Mount, this Jesus loving, humble, if somebody slaps you on the face, you turn the other cheek, that's not, that's not, that's not Koran. You go kill your enemies. Not just you kill your enemies. You

kill those who don't accept your message of Muhammad of Koran. You kill them. They don't have to be your enemies. They're just rejecting your message. So the contradiction was too many. And I could not say both are true. Now, I mentioned it at the intro and you brought it up. I was going to come to it later, but I think now is a really good point to do so. You mentioned your brother being executed. and this was shortly after you became a believer. So tell us what happened. Why did it make you question your faith and think, wait a minute, maybe I got the wrong faith?

And how did that make you want to love Muslims more? Right. What was a new believer? My family members had not come to Christ yet. Later, many, many of them came to Christ. And so right after I came to Christ, they arrested my younger brother, 16-year-old, being a part of a political movement. So I was kind of God.

My family doesn't know you. And my brother is in jail. So God, bring him out so he can hear the gospel. My family, I prayed. So for two years, I prayed for his release. And after two years, one day they called my mom and said, well, we executed him. come and get his body. And before that, my mom would visit and they would tell my mom,

oh, yeah, he's doing fine. And my mom was telling me, no, he's fine. They're going to release him soon. So they give him hope that he's okay. He's doing fine. He will release. And then one day, come and get his body. And by the time, and when my mom went to get his body, they charged him for the bullets

that killed her son. She had to pay money. she had to pay money. So I'm hearing that I just, it wasn't that I questioned my faith. It was more of God, I know this is a faith that's, you are real, you changed me, you've transformed me. I have no question.

But my question is this, Lord, what do I do for the injustice in this world? What should be my reaction be? You saved me. I can feel that. I experience that internally. But what are you going to do about the injustice in this world? What am I supposed to do as a Christian? So first, I had this revengeful idea. Okay, they killed my brother. I will be an active against them to take revenge. Then I realized, oh, no, no, no, no. I remember reading the Bible. The Lord says, Revenge is mine. So I'm sorry, Lord. I'm sorry. I repent. But God, I just really hate them. I hate them. I feel hatred. Oh, no. I'm not supposed to hate. I'm supposed to love my enemies. So I'm sorry, Lord. I'm not going to hate them. Lord, but I'm really angry. I'm angry. Oh, yeah. You said if you're angry and you heart, you already sin. That sermon on the mouth. So that's why I said, God, what kind of faith? Is this? What am I supposed to do when I see injustice? What is my role in this role?

I say, God, can I at least curse and cuss a little bit so I can feel better? I mean, so no, no, no, no. You worship with your mouth. You can't even do that. So I ask God, what is it? What is your answer? What am I supposed to do? And during those two, three days of morning, I really felt I heard the love.

Lord very, very strongly. Several points, simple. He said the first thing, those who killed your brother, there are not your enemies. There are victims in the hands of one enemy. That's Satan. Have passion, have compassion on them. So that's where I received the love for the enemies. I looked at the government officials, the people who killed my brother. God changed my mind. That's, I should love them because they are lost. They are captives. And I need to go help Jesus set them free. God wants to save them.

And number two, I said, so, okay, they are not my enemies. I realize they need to be saved. So what do you want me to do? And I strongly heard in my heart. You want to take revenge of Satan? Yes, Lord. Yes, what am I going to do against this devil? that causes in slaves millions and a couple billion of Muslims.

He has it in his camp as slaves. As slaves. I can expand on the word slave because I was a Muslim. And it is truly slavery. Believing in Allah is slavery. So what am I supposed? What can I do? And God said, to destroy your enemy, one enemy, Satan,

the best is to share the gospel. Because when one person comes to Christ, one person comes to Christ, we know there is a party in heaven, there is rejoicing in heaven. And probably there is a warning in the course of hell. So I said, I understand. The only thing I can do is to share your gospel,

even with the enemies, even with those who killed my brother. Okay. Lord, I commit to do that. the rest of my life. I will do that. I will do that. And by the way, God, since I'm dedicating my life to sharing your gospel with others, could be, would you use my life to bring one million Muslims to Christ? I had no idea why I said that. But by his grace over the years through media, the last 25 years, we probably have passed that number. We don't know. We only have names of over 110.10. thousand people who dare to call us and tell us that and pray with us to receive

Christ but many many have come to Christ without telling us but sooner or later if you haven't passed a million God is faithful soon with Iran alive I'm talking to our audience with Iran alive soon there will be one million Iranian Muslims who have come to Christ we are in the way unbelievable you remind me of my dad in many ways Dr. chariot, your passion, your joy, your big, bold faith. Let me take a couple steps back. There's something I'm really interested in. You described that you and your wife were both became Muslims. You're married together. You become a Christian. How did she react? And what happened when you shared that with her? A great question because it shows God's grace. Here, I am at home,

the summer, not taking any courses, focusing on reading Koran and the Bible. What is my wife doing? We are getting a divorce. We set a date for divorce. She doesn't want to come home. She was working. Because come home, we have five. So she worked overtime every night.

At least make some money. As she was staying at her office to work overtime, every night at 10 p.m., there was a janitor coming to collect the garbage. And he was from Guatemala. And he didn't speak English. But he saw this sad lady sitting in the office, had compassion on her, bring her food, coffee. And one night, he came to my wife.

He had learned one sentence in English. He had gone to ask, what do you say this in English? So he spoke Spanish. He couldn't speak English. But one night he came to my wife and said, Jesus loves you. And that was the start of my wife hearing about Jesus. And every night was kind and Jesus loves you. And then they invited, he invited us to his church. My wife came and said, this janitor has invited us to this big downtown church, church of the open door where J. Vernon McGee. was the previous pastor. So that I said, okay, I'm studying. I'm not getting anywhere.

So maybe I can find my answers there. That's where we went. And after two, three weeks they heard, I heard the gospel. Actually, the first day somebody invited us to their house, shared the gospel, my wife came to Christ, I didn't. And after three, four weeks later, I did too.

So we came to Christ about the same time. That's really, really interesting. Now, you talked about when you came to Christ praying for a million souls that would believe, former Muslims. But you also talk about in your book, kind of a first time you shared your faith in Southern California, not far from where I live or I teach at Talbot. What happened when you first shared your faith? It was so hard, Sean. I remember Southern California starting to share. You know, an introvert nerd, I was, focusing on myself, my goals, more comfortable with books than people.

And here is the Holy Spirit telling me share the gospel. And I promised later that after my brother's death that I'm going to do it. Seriously, I'm going to do it. But before that, I was sharing the gospel. It was so hard. It's like my personality was, okay, be quiet, focus on your study. The Holy Spirit, speak up. My personality, shut up.

Holy Spirit, speak up. So it was so hard. But out of faith, I opened my mouth and started sharing the gospel. I had this feeling, Sean, I hope every Christian, your audience, I hope all of us will have this. I felt this is such a simple but powerful message. It's an answer to personal problems, answer to relational, to marriage problems, to society problems. This is what I felt. If I don't share this message with others, I am selfish.

I am selfish. That was my feeling. You got to do it. If you love people, you know, you don't save them, but at least lovingly. you can share about Jesus. So that's where I started sharing the gospel, beginning right after revolution, Iranians were not open to the gospel. They were saying, hey, Islam is going to take over the world.

You are a CIA agent. They were telling me, you're an infidel. I can kill you. I've worked hard, like sometimes six months on one person to come to Christ. Wow. So it was long. One of them took six years to come to Christ. And these are people who were interested in.

in the gospel. But I started house groups in Orange County, Southern California. That's where I live. I failed. Here you live there. Yeah, I was living in Hington Beach and Anaheim. All those cities went and started house groups. But I have to say, Sean, I failed and failed and failed. Seven years. I started a group, go for six months, one or two person come to Christ, then people don't show up every half. a daily spark of hope and direction, let the Daily Bible app from Salem Media be that spark. This free Android app delivers an uplifting verse each morning, plus reading plans, devotions, and trusted podcasts from leaders like Joyce Meyer and Rick Warren.

Prefer to listen instead? The Daily Bible app reads verses, reading plans, and chapters allowed, handy for the headphones moment of your day. Choose from versions like ESV, NIV, KJV, and more, and bookmark favorites to revisit later. Share inspiring messages with loved ones right for. from the app. Feel God's presence in every notification. Search for Daily Bible app on Google Play and begin your day with hope, purpose, and peace. I have to close it. But it was very hard because the Iranians were not open to the gospel. Now, it's so easy, Sean. I did simple two-minute message I share on our satellite channel. Two-minute version. People come to Christ. Two-minute version. Okay, so, like, tell us that. I guess shit.

it with us. If you say Iranians are open, is it that you present the gospel in a certain way, in a different way, a clear way? How do you present it that you've learned over all these years that seems to resonate with so many Muslims? Well, I've learned it to share it in many different ways. It depends on the person. Even in America, as I witnessed to people, some people from Pakistan, from Afghanistan, then the first is where are they in their spiritual journey? So there are not one way. to share the gospel with Muslims. But with Iranians has changed. It took them 46 years to come to conclusion that Islam is not the way,

Islam is not the solution. It's the root of our problems, they say, and we need to get rid of it. So I don't need to prove to Iranian Muslims, Islam is bad. Islam is not right. I mean, you don't have to. For the most part, some of them have questions, but most part, just pass that. And talk about a personal relationship with Godhood's love.

With Iranians, especially those living inside Iran, they have seen the violence, the brutality, injustice, hypocrisy of the mullahs for 40-some years. So you don't have to talk about Islam. But they are hungry. They are hungry. And God has prepared the hearts of Iranians for the gospel. If you ask an Iranian Muslim, a typical Iranian Muslim by name,

because if you're born in Iran, you're Muslim, which I have done, I ask him, do you believe in God? I'm not sure if there is God, but maybe he is. So who do you think God is? And typically this is right here. If there is God, I don't believe that God is like God of Islam. I don't believe that. So what do you believe?

I believe there, if there is God, He's loving God who loves us and asks us to love one another. He's a forgiving God who forgives us and asks us to forgive one another. I mean, without reading the Bible, Sean, they're talking about the values of the Bible. That's why when I shared that two minutes, it just resonates with what's already written in their hearts. That's why we get a response. Oh yeah, that's what I believe. When I talk about God loves you, he's your father.

Oh, yeah, yeah. It's already in my heart. Let me call. Let me contact. I want that God. Dr. Sherry, I've had a number of conversations with imam, say, publicly and some in private. I follow some Islamic apologetics, and there seems to be a critique of the Trinity. Jesus can't be God. The Bible is corrupt. Those are some of the common apologetic objections that are advanced. but if you shift to just more the typical Muslim who grows up in Iran and they're trying to make sense of their life, what are the big barriers or objections to coming to faith? And I don't just mean intellectual. What are the broader objections that would hold an Iranian Muslim from following Jesus?

Very good question. As I said, this has changed. Before, when I started the ministry, the questions were Trinity. Why do you say Jesus is God? Why do Christians sin? Why? That's the image they had. They had the image of Christianity from Hollywood.

They see, look at Hollywood pictures. Because they thought America is a Christian country. So anything to Hollywood, the infidelity, the sex and everything in Hollywood, they used to think that's Christianity. So, but it has changed. Right now, because they have rejected Islam, This is the major hindrance right now for Iranians to come to Christ. Islam, the best and last religion, was terrible.

Why should I go to Christianity that's older and inferred? Therefore, I am done with God and any religion. That's a survey showed at least one third of Iranians feel that way, especially the younger generation. I have nothing to do with organized religion, neither Christianity nor Islam. And you ask him, so what do you believe? Some of them say, most of them agnostic. I'm not sure, but I believe in my own God kind of thing.

Some of them have become atheists. And by the way, Iranians who say I'm atheists, in their heart they are not. Interesting. They are spiritually open, hungry. Yes. So it seems to me that there's kind of a downside and an upside to the skepticism and sounds like what you're saying, rejection of Islam by so many Iranian Muslims, is that they look at, they don't just say, oh, it's this practice of Islam in Iran that's false.

They're rejecting all of it. but they're also rejecting all of organized Christianity and Christianity with that. So what would make, in your experience, is it learning Christian theology? Is it having a relationship with a Christian? What is it that makes them have a restored trust to even consider any faith, let alone the Christian faith? Very good. I study that because that's my ministry to know why people come to Christ and why they don't. So why do they come to Christ?

Number one is that they know a Christian and their lives have been changed. That's a supernatural work of the Lord in Yvonne. You know, it's not an easy belief. In the West, somebody says, I'm a Christian and they don't live as a Christian. In Yvonne, if you say I'm a Christian, your life is in danger. So you can't fake it. You got to really believe it. So the life changed transformation.

I have so many testimonies, Sean, of people coming to Christ and their friends and family members come to Christ. Why? Because they see a change in them. And that's a difference between Iran and Islamic nations. In other Islamic nations, when somebody comes to Christ, the persecution usually comes from the friends and family members. Honor killing. Father wants to kill you because you've dishonored. Not in Iran. Even though that happens sometimes, but the norm in Iran. is somebody comes to Christ, many of the friends and family members come to Christ. Why? They see you have changed. You have peace that I'm looking for. You have joy that I've lost

for many, many years. You're so kind. What happened to you? Like this mother, can I share this story? You just popped in my mind. This mom called me and she said, my life, my family have changed. We all become a Christian. I asked her, how did you become a, you know, becoming Christian, she said through my 14 year old son, did he share the gospel with you? Was he the first one? Yes. Did he share the gospel with you? She said, no. What? So how did you hear? She said, we had a family problem. We were fighting. I was with my husband and we have two kids. The family fight was just normal in our house. And our kids got involved. They would side with me or the father. So then for a while I saw my son so quiet so

peaceful doesn't participate does it in our fights doesn't even fight with his sister so after a while I went to I went to him I said hey son are you okay I do you sick should I take you to a psychologist or something I mean you are so peaceful or calm are you depressed what happened and my son was saying no no I'm okay mom and I looked at him and he was so respectful to me and that he was he was studying better he was getting good grades I said what happened and he wouldn't tell me what happened one day I was I went to his home I was helping clean his room I found the Bible under his mattress said ha that's what happened so my son came home and I told him I found this and he was so scared I said are you a Christian

we said, yes, why didn't you tell us, you would kick me out of house? No, we love what we see. How did you hear the gospel? How did you, how did you become a Christian? Come and I watched this program, our program, this channel, satellite channel, this station I watched and that's how became a Christian. And so why didn't you tell us, I'm sorry, I thought you're going to kick me out. And by the way, Mom, I have to confess.

I've lied to you. Please forgive me. How did you lie to me? Do you remember those days you wanted to go visit family members and have dinner with them? And I told you, I can't. I'm going to stay home and study. Yeah? I didn't study.

I watched the Christian channel. That's a great confession. I like that one. That's really funny. So that's how that family came to Christ. But that's doing. is repeated. People look at their friends or family members. Hey, you were a drug addict. This is so often. You were a drug addict. We tried to help you for many years. We put you in

hospital and recovery. Nothing worked. Now, suddenly you're free. What happened? You're free from drug addiction. By the way, there's so many signs, wonders, miracles, visions, dreams, happening in Iran. I could go for hours with stories. But number one miracle, number one miracle happening in Iran right now is overnight instant freedom from addiction. And of course it's noticeable. So to answer your question, why? Because of number one is because of life change. Number two, because of media. People watch us. I don't know why people like us.

You know, I think God's favor. Muslims like me, like our channel. They watch us because I talk about God's love and I have, they say you have like a father's heart. But when they watch it, they said, this is good. We had a wrong idea about Christianity being blasphemers. There's no three gods. They believe in one God. They believe a whole year life than we do.

So two big factors is life transformation and media has changed the people of Iran, their mind towards Christianity. That's amazing. I want to come back towards what you said about addiction. But in Iran, are we hearing about dreams and visions of Jesus like we are in many other places around the world? Many, many, many. As I said, I can share stories for hours. It happens every day, every week in different ways. It's just so much, happens so much that supernatural in Iran is natural. It's just expected. And one reason is this, because as a Muslim, they believe Jesus is a miracle worker. So they become a Christian with that initiative faith that Jesus does miracles. And because of their faith, Jesus does miracles for them. And it's normal. Appearing to them, this man in the white clothes, like this guy from, he said,

my village, we all have come to Christ and remote. village. I said, how did that happen? He said, for a while, there was this young, this man with the white clothes walking on our main street. He said only we have one main street, one street. Who is he? He's not from our town. And he had such a presence, nobody there to talk to him and ask him. They were just watching him with all come every day walk and then disappear. Where is he? So when you broadcast Jesus film he said during the Christmas time

when you broadcast Jesus film we all saw that and said that's the one that's the one is walking our streets and so during the Christmas last year it said we all came to Christ we told each other that what the person you saw

is Jesus here watch the Jesus film so Jesus appearing personally to groups of people like that and many many have seen him personally and received received miracles healings all the time changes all the time you have time for me to tell you another story yeah I've got more questions for you but if this story is important tell us I would love to hear I love stories because this is I'm talking about villages there are hundreds and thousands of stories about people seeing Jesus and being healed.

But this one is also how a village come to Christ. In Iran, villages are coming to Christ. Groups of people are coming to Christ. So this guy calls and says, he came to Christ. I said, how did you come to Christ? Then he told me this story. He said, in our village, I was the first one who bought a satellite dish and watched you. And nobody had it at that time.

And I watched you and I heard about God's love, about his forgiveness, that Jesus is a Savior, I received, I believed him, and my life was changed. I was so full of joy. Then I said, I've got to share that with other villagers. So I went out and told people, hey, Jesus is the Savior. Jesus is the way. And I ask him, so what happened? Need a daily spark of hope and direction? Let the Daily Bible app from Salem Media be that spark. This free Android app delivers an uplifting verse each morning, plus reading plans, devotions and trusted podcasts from leaders like Joyce Meyer and Rick Warren. Prefer to listen instead?

The Daily Bible app reads verses, reading plans and chapters allowed, handy for the headphones moment of your day. Choose from versions like ESV, NIV, NIV, KJV, and more, and bookmark favorites to revisit later. Share inspiring messages with loved ones right from the app. Feel God's presence in every notification. Search for Daily Bible app on Google Play and begin your day with hope, purpose, and peace. Did they receive Christ? I said no, but they beat me up really well. The two of them, two of them really in the presence of others, two of them really beat me up.

I came home bruised that night and I was in pain and I fell on my carpet. I fell asleep on that night on my carpet. And I was telling God, God, I didn't say anything bad. I told them your love and why did they beat me up? And I fell asleep on the carpet. When I was sleeping, I saw Jesus in my dream. He came and said, my son, you did the right thing. And I will turn your enemies to be your friends.

The dream. I will turn your enemies to be friends. He said, I got up. Oh, I've slept all night so nicely on the carpet. So I got a knock on the door. I opened and there are those two people who beat me up. I wanted to close the door. He said, no, no, no, please, we are not here to beat you up.

We want to talk to you. Okay, can we come in? Yes. Be sorry that we beat you up. Would you tell us where you got that message of love that God is love? Where do you learn it? And he said, come here. Turn on to satellite television.

He says, this channel, I heard about God's love in this channel. She said, could we come and watch it with you? So, sure. Yeah, me bring our families, sure. They said that night they started coming. And they brought their family members, they brought friends. And after a while, every night in my home, there were groups of people watching your program. They will get it.

My wife and I got tired of having so many guests every night. We had to prepare food for them, drinks, every night were crowds in my room. So he said, I thought of something I did. I went and I bought two satellite dishes. They're pretty cheap in Iran. And I give them as a gift to these two people. And so from that on, from that night on, people would go to their house, eat their food and watch their satellite television. And so that's how my village have come to Christ.

Majority of people in my village know Jesus. I love that. What a great story. And a creative thinker saw a problem. He's like, here's how I fix it in a helpful way. Now, you love stories. You mentioned a story in your book of your mom. coming to faith at 76. What happened?

Yeah, she was the most anti-Christian member of my family. Because they killed her son. She was bitter toward God or there's no God. This is nonsense. So I became a Christian. She would call me intentionally to discourage me. Hey, you got a PhD in artificial intelligence? You're dumb. Why did you make such a stupid decision to follow Christ? You think you're smart, you're not, you know. And so, but after she heard the gospel and she had the, how can I say, how God spoke to her and saved her life in an accident and many other things. So it's a long process.

She was kind of against it and she saw my grief and she would come from Iran to visit and she would tell me, hey, son, don't worry, don't worry. I'm a Christian. And when she was leaving, going back to Iran. But she was lying. Then she would come a few months later. No, there's no God. You're stupid and all that. But one day when she was visiting with us, we went, we had a church conference weekend.

She came. And she didn't want to come. I said, come. You don't have to sit in the meetings. You can walk. It's nature. You love nature. So she came.

And the first day, she was walking outside. Second day, she came in the back and listen. And on the third day of the conference, when I was closing, I said, those who want to receive Christ, those, and this, you have been with us three days, those who want to make a decision today, come and I will pray for you. Four or five people came, and one of them was my mom. So I said, mom, I went to, mom, are you doing this for my sake? She said, no, son. This time it's for my own sake. And she came to Christ. This is a Sunday. She came to Christ, 78, transformed overnight, Sean. Tower of the gospel.

Next day, next morning, she said, son, I want to pray with you. I said, what do you want to pray about? I want to forgive those who killed my son. Could we pray? Next day, we pray. Two days later, I come home and she's calling people. She gets her phone calls, phone numbers out, and she's calling. What is she doing?

I listened. She was calling people that she had hurt, and she was asking for forgiveness of everybody that she had hurt. She was transformed. She turned into becoming a Bible smuggler for about 10 years. She was going back and forth, suitcases of Bibles, giving it out to people, witnessing to people. Many of my family members came to Christ because of her change, dramatic change, sharing her faith and giving her Bibles. I remember one of my cousins, she gave a Bible to him. And he went and read and came back and said, I don't believe in this is true. Why, this God, why would he say this in this verse? And my mom was sharing that.

I said, Mom, that was hard questions. Did you answer him? Do you know how to answer him? Because my mom was a new believer. She said, no, I didn't answer him. So what did you do? I just yanked the Bible from his hand. I said, you don't deserve this.

I'm going to give it to somebody. else. Unbelievable. Wow. Now, your book is called Iran's Great Awakening, but the subtitle is how God is using a Muslim convert to spark revival. Now, you wrote this five years ago in 2020. Would you say a revival is being sparked or we are actually seen revival within Iran?

It has started and the fire is growing and all you and I need and I invite to your audience to come and join. Let's add fuel this fire. This fire of a revival has started and it's going to impact, not just Iran, the whole Middle East and even the whole world. Am I talking big? Am I saying talking big that Ivan will be a Christian nation? Yes. But people ask me, where did you get that idea? Yvonne would be a Christian nation. I tell him, I stole the idea. It's not my idea. Where did you steal it from? I steal it from Jeremiah 49, verse 38. 49, 38, God says, I will set my throne in that land. And we know the future of Iraq.

It's already started. Nobody can stop it. And it's going to impact the Middle East. And it's going to impact the whole world. And about my book, I studied the prophecies very carefully. You do. Yeah. The first segment is my testimony.

The second part is a prophetic study. If you're interested in prophecy, very careful, study of the prophecy about Iran and Israel. And the last part is a strategy, which we are implementing. We are, we're not just talking. We are implementing a strategy to transform Iran. So I encourage you to read the Bible and read my book. Well, the book is great. We didn't even get into prophecy.

That was a huge piece that we could discuss. So I hope people pick up your book, Iran's Great Awakening. But what if people say, I want to track what you're doing? I want to follow. I want to support the ministry. How can people find more? Awesome. Let's be in touch.

If you have a heart for nations, if you want to be a history maker, God is making history in Iran. If you have that passion to change a nation that will impact the world, come and join us. You can go to our website, Iranalive, iranolive.org and sign up for our newsletter. the minimum is that you get all these great testimonies to encourage your heart. But maybe the Lord will lead you to join us in ministry and in prayer and in support. But we have a 24-7. So if you have a media ministry who want to broadcast on our channel, many ministers are coming and with a very reasonable price,

they broadcast on our channel for a year reaching 7 million. Can you believe it, Sean? There was a independent survey. They told us, I don't claim that, but they told us we need a survey, your channel has 7 million daily viewers. So we have gathered 7 million people. Come and come and talk to them. One easier way. So go out to our website, iranolive.org.

One easier way is this. Text this word to this number. You know, instead of calling somebody, put that phone number, put this. 85-78-9, 85-78-9, and then text the word Iran, I-R-A-N. And you will get a set of links. You get links to some testimonies, links to our website, and if the Lord leads you to donate, but let's be in touch. You're going to be amazed.

I'm going to give you updated, update information, amazing things that are happening in Iran and encouraging testimonies. So text Iran, I-R-A-N to this number 8-5-7-8-9. God bless you. Thank you, Sean. Oh, my goodness. It's been such a joy. I really appreciate you coming on.

You, again, remind me of my father with your vision and with your passion and your commitment to the gospel. That's the best compliment I can give somebody. So, folks, text of the number that he said, Iran. If you want updates, you want to support, you want to help spread the word. Check out the book, Iran's Great Awakening. And before you click away and make sure you hit subscribe, we would love. to have you come study apologetics. We have an evangelistic heart at Talbot School Theology to

equip you. And one thing we study are other faiths and religions, including Islam, to be an effective ambassador. So we'd love to have you join us at Talbot School Theology. And don't forget to hit subscribe. We've got some other shows coming up. We cover a range of topics here, but we will certainly come back to Islam now and then. Dr. Hermos-Sheriot, wonderful conversation. you for your time. God bless you, Sean, and I hope to. When you visit Dallas, I will interview you. Come. I would love it. Let's do it. Hey, friends, if you enjoyed this show, please hit that follow button on your podcast app. Most of you tuning in haven't done this yet, and it makes a huge difference in helping us reach and equip more people and build community. And please consider

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